Crime Down In The Forest City But Domestic Violence Still Remains A Big Problem

Crime Down In The Forest City But Domestic Violence Still Remains A Big Problem

Rockford- Crime, overall has gone down from burglary, to shots fired calls, even hit and runs which was a major problem last year. All on the decline.

ROCKFORD -- "It's disturbing," says Rockford's Deputy Chief, David Hopkins, reacting to a report from the Winnebago County Violent Crime Task Force that reveals that for every four violent crimes in the city, one of them involves domestic violence. So far this year, the task force says there has been over 2,500 incidents involving domestic violence. Arrests have been made in about 550 of them.

"The number of calls is very consistent. Probably monthly, we're anywhere from 312 calls of domestic violence sometimes that balloons to 400," Hopkins says. "So, you're looking at, in a 30 day period, you're looking at ten domestic violence calls per day."

"Many times, it's believed that the more socio-economic depressed you are, the more domestic violence you're living [with] and that simply is not true," he continues. "Domestic violence is domestic violence and unfortunately it touches way too many people in our community."

Still, there were some positives to take away from the task force's findings. Crime, overall, has gone down. Burglary, shots fired calls, even hit and runs - which was a major problem last year - are all on the decline.